TRACK TALK LIVE: May 2018

By MRA Editors

Check out the recap of our monthly Track Talk Live with model railroad expert and long-time train enthusiast Doug Hodgdon. Doug answers your model railroad questions live on the air in this fun, interactive, and informative Q&A.




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10 Responses to “TRACK TALK LIVE: May 2018”

  1. Jeff

    Probably too late, but clarification: 190 feet of track, the layout is 17 ft x 20 ft, and - based on advice from Tony's Trains - I used two-conductor speaker wire to avoid the impedance loss of separate main bus wires.

  2. Bob

    Doug, I'm recycling my old HO layout to On30 and am planning on ripping up my peco switches and track to relay them to a new track plan. The have been ballasted and painted. Suggestions.

  3. Larry

    Considering COSTS ... what is the least expansive way to do automated crossing grade gates via Optical sensor or Infared sensors ???

  4. Jeff

    I am building an HO layout powered with NCE's PowerPro DCC system. I have 7 power districts, but one has about half of the 190' of track in the entire layout. To route power to the whole district, I will have 6 leads that branch out such that no one branch is a run more than 30 ft of 14AWG wire as the main bus. Track wires drop 12'' - 18 " from every piece of NiS track (mostly FlexTrack) to connect to the main bus. According to all the literature I can find, this should be an acceptable wiring plan as long as no run from the 5 amp DCC power source is longer than 30'. Do you agree?

  5. Rick

    Anyone have experience using MRC's new light genie product and can it be used to power track side signals ?

  6. WILLIAM

    Is it OK to solder HO Kato track together if you leave some gaps along the way?

  7. George

    I’m looking for a traction motor for a older Bachmann 4-6-4 locomotive. Looks almost round and stands upright.

  8. JOHN

    I am Building HO model railroad buildings from Styrene and I like to have some plans to go by not copy them. Is there a Web Site that you know of where i can get some free plans to build HO scale Buildings

  9. Rich

    Thinking about getting my first train set. What size track/train should I go with? I'm 75 years old but have always since a child wanted to build a train layout.

  10. raylevingston

    i want to run two circle tracks on same layout (no crossovers) from one dcc booster. is that realistic